This site was launched on 1st February 2017 – More blog posts coming soon!

Do you have an idea for a blog post about how NTU is working towards achieving this goal? We would love to hear from you – email GreenAcademy@ntu.ac.uk.

SOLASTALGIA? IDEAS FOR COPING WITH THE CLIMATE CRISIS

If you have ever felt that the natural world is changing for the worse, then you have experienced solastalgia. The term basically means the distress from a changing environment close to your home, that your sense of place has been disrupted. I don’t know about you, but I see myself as a global citizen, on spaceship earth, and the earth is changing…

STAND AGAINST FAST FASHION: FASHION REVOLUTION WEEK

In 2016, 1,130,000 tonnes of clothing was purchased in the UK. That’s a lot of hours we’ve spent scrolling through ASOS, browsing the clothing racks in Zara and avoiding tripping over a fugitive toddler during a Saturday morning visit to Primark. Seemingly, we also needed to make room for all our new purchases, considering a staggering 300,000 tonnes was thrown away in 2016. Our love for ‘Fast Fashion’ and throwaway culture has granted the clothing and textile industry the rather unflattering title of Second Most Polluting Industry, beaten by the oil industry only by a nose. Chemicals used to grow fibers, dye fabrics, and wash garments end up …

ENERGY AT NTU & WHAT YOU CAN DO

In the Sustainable Development Team we’re taking a step back and looking at energy usage at NTU with a fresh pair of eyes! We think there’s plenty to be done that can improve our efficiency and help reduce NTU’s environmental impact and you can help too.

The UN’s Sustainable Development Goal 7 sets out an…

PRME UK and Ireland chapter(UKI) and Oxford Brookes University Writing Competition

In February this year, I entered a writing competition conducted by the PRME UK and Ireland chapter(UKI) and Oxford Brookes University. This is the second year the competition is being conducted with the aim of promoting understanding of the United Nations Principles for Responsible Managem…..

Low-carbon diet: The food fad that’s good for the environment

If you aren’t already worried about climate change, you probably should be. Melting ice-caps, rising sea-levels and extreme weather – indicators that all is not right with the world, and us humans definitely have a hand in it!

Sustainability, low-waste living and plant-based…

BRACKENHURST TREE PLANTING

During the week beginning 19^th February, volunteers from NTU and beyond planted approximately 1700 native trees in Orwin’s Field on Brackenhurst Campus.

The majority of the trees are part of an academic research project on the impact of different species on soil pH. These trees were planted in….

COP23 – Halftime

The second week of climate negotiations is just starting 384 miles away in Bonn, Germany. One of my personal areas of interest has been the development of the Gender Action Plan. One can question, why does gender matter…

WHAT TO EXPECT FROM COP23 – GOING INTO THE FIRST WEEK OF THE NEGOTIATIONS

In the next two weeks, the United Nations Climate Change Negotiations are taking place in Bonn, Germany. I first began to follow these negotiations in 2009 when they were in Copenhagen, Denmark. I went there to participate….

 

PUSH FORWARD

For many students starting their journey through NTU, how to get about once they arrive in Nottingham probably isn’t that high on their list of things to worry about. Certainly for me, back in the mists of time when I started at Uni I was far more interested in discovering my local Metal bands than researching bus timetables or bike routes. Until that is, about three weeks into my first term…

AIESEC: THE WORLD’S LARGEST YOUTH-RUN ORGANISATION

AIESEC is the world’s largest youth-run organisation. Founded in 1948, AIESEC is now present in over 126 countries and territories and is still growing. Over 70,000 students and recent graduates, each year, in over 100 countries manage an organisation that facilitates tens of thousands of international exchanges so that young people can experience and understand cultures other than their own…

LESS IS MORE, LOWERING FASHION CONSUMPTION

My interest in sustainability started over the summer when I was doing a spring clean of my wardrobe. After days of clearing out, I not only realised how many clothes I had, but more importantly how many that I’d never worn. The average person uses about 20% of their wardrobe, the rest hang there, unloved…

THE GREENHOUSE GAS MANAGEMENT PROJECT – EVERYONE’S A WINNER

On the evening of 7^th February, I was lucky enough to be invited to the student presentation evening of the Greenhouse Gas Management Project, a great initiative and a perfect example of enabling innovation at NTU…

3 SIMPLE WAYS TO BE A MORE SUSTAINABLE STUDENT

The focus of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals is of course sustainability, but what does this really mean and how can we help to work towards these in our day to day lives? In this blog post I wanted to offer some of the easier ways that students can help to make a build a more sustainable future…